Wow, this whole vote in Switzerland has revealed some very interesting attitudes. I was going to avoid it, but both sides have gotten a bit out of control to the point it sounds a lot like the Christian fight to keep Christmas trees up in public. Christmas trees have absolutely nothing to do with Christ, but if people feel their ‘religious rights’ are maligned, it doesn’t matter what the lightening rod/tree/minaret is. Some Christians feel Christmas trees are pagan, it seems some Muslims feel minarets are too. Hhhmmm. Who to please, who to offend?
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So I avoided it because I don’t want to have to deal with what off-the-wall comments will come, and all the labeling, which is why I don’t write about a lot of things that do bother me. One of those forms of self-censorship.I read KabobFest’s take, and lost a long comment, so thought I would risk taking it up over here. I also read Hareega, Batir, and Mona E on it and agreed and disagreed with portions of each.
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But the level of fear-mongering by the SVP party, with the awful, ugly images used to promote this vote made me a little crazy. Likewise, the racist labels being applied to Swiss voters are the other end of the hysteria. Somewhere between the emo-extremes are some conversations that need to happen. One cannot pretend that fear of what could be is illegitimate, whether it is fear of sharia law or fear that internment camps are the next step.
I have a good Swiss friend who has been working with refugees in Switzerland, Austria and Germany as an advocate for immigrant rights for nearly twenty-five years. She speaks fluent Farsi and some Arabic, is very close to Muslim families from Iran, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Chechniya as well as immigrant Turks.I emailed her and asked her opinion, and I will state my own, too.
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Number One: If you come to a country, are invited to receive citizenship and make it your home, you have to abide by the rules, and some of your cultural issues will have to be laid down. Especially if some of those cultural issues involve practices that violate local law or customs like FGM, dis-honor killing, polygamy, forced under-age marriage, etc.
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I am choosing to lay down some of my cultural baggage as a guest of Jordan. I spare my adopted country the visual pollution of lilly-white limbs emerging from tank-tops and short-shorts, I don’t let my son practice electric guitar at 6am on Friday, don’t eat or drink in public during Ramadan and I don’t pass out Christian tracts to Muslims nor go down-town to practice evangelism.
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I haven’t assimilated, losing myself and cultural identity in the process, but have integrated. Enough that I feel a bit Jordanian and get a little miffed when people say I have no right to criticize as an outsider, as I feel pretty much an insider.
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Number Two: Europe quite likes it’s own cultural identity, and part of that was fighting off Muslim invaders at a point or two. There is real history there, not right-wing xenophobia.
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Architectural integrity is s HUGE issue for Europe. Which is why you may see McDonalds in Zurich, but you won’t see plastic golden arches with that horrid red and yellow scheme. No amount of revenue can over-ride that desire to see the fussgangerzone look Swiss, not like Atlantic City, New Jersey. Same thing is true in my home-town, Lake Tahoe.
In the US, building codes and zoning control where and how ALL houses of worship are built and look. Most of the mosques I have seen don’t have minarets, but fit the feel of the community, as do the churches. Switzerland does not inhibit the number of places of worship, but the style.
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I support their right to allow their landscape to look as it has.
No Muslim is being hindered in worship or practice by lacking a minaret. One BBC report I read said that this whole thing started because the Sikhs built a large temple, and the Muslims decided they wanted big too. Sort of like here in Jordan, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants (except the practical Anglicans) build these beautiful mega-monument churches so the can appear big and important and valuable. How often are they filled? Christmas, Palm Sunday, and Easter? Do we people of faith really need to build structures that show our power and might when there are children starving, HEELLOOO???
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I don’t think fancy minarets, gold domes and crosses would be a priority if there were more WOMEN on governing boards…we don’t have the same comparison problems, size doesn’t matter as much as caring for those who fall through the cracks of our communities. Sorry to be gross, but really, this is what happens when women are kept out of decision making.
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I went off on a tangent, and threw in gender issues to boot. Elzbeth’s comments on Part 2
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December 2, 2009 at 11:17 pm |
sigh. well, from my point of view (and i dont necessarily adhere to the mainstream povs that are out there on this subject) i see a great deal of flaws with the arguments you put forth, especially the architecture one (lol, imagine that new orthodox church being built in swefieh was “restructured” because it didn’t fit with the architectural integrity of the surrounding area!). but i dont want to get in to that right now.
the only thing i wanted to point out was regarding the size issue, which has nothing to do with the minarets issue.
i think islam differs here, or at least, its difficult to put it in the same boat as christianity or other religions. friday prayers are obligatory and thus mosques are filled to the brim at least one day of the week. then you have ramadan, filled daily for one month of the year. to top it off, we are talking about 400,000 people and 150 mosques in one small country. having lived as a muslim minority for at least half my life, i can say that size does matter when it comes to accommodating all these people on a great number of days of the year, to say nothing of the fact that in the west, unlike here, mosques are also muslim community centers, where muslims congregate daily because its the only public space they’re allowed. heck, even eid prayers in toronto are often times held in huge, cold warehouses, with the floor still wet from the leaky roof.
so it’s not a show of strength..it’s about lack of space. i can testify to that firsthand and i think most muslims who live abroad can to.
December 3, 2009 at 3:40 am |
Read this kinz. http://www.moeys.net/2009/12/02/switzerland-or-saudi-arabia-whats-the-difference/
December 3, 2009 at 9:01 am |
Nas, thanks for your kindness in commenting.
I will ask my more logically-gifted editorial-type friends to help me with some of the flaws.
This is one area where Jordan does shine. There would never be an issue with having a cross on a church, allowing churches to be built, or interfering with architecture. Yet, the churches here have Greek influence which works in an Arab context, and Jordan is not known for extremely strict building codes (um, are there any?) Jordan is a model for other regional countries, as much as I whine.
(I also think that Jordanian Islamic leaders should be exported as a national resource, that imam you have mentioned once in Dair Ghbar should go full-time into training others to supply thinking religious leaders world-wide)
It may seem funny to you, but the ‘look’ of things is an issue that IS huge in Swissra, I guess you have to have been there to understand this Swiss-watch mindset, everything must be just so and punctual and orderly and fitting. Alles in ordnung.
As for size, good point. My church in southern California had 15,000 people in and out every Sunday, and thousands daily with a community center, gym and restaurent. Yet, since southern California is now almost completely built-up and there is no room for new mega-churches and mosques within ten minutes walk, mosques and churches both are making use of theatres, warehouses and car parks….just like the mosques/prayer rooms in Switzerland and what you experienced in Toronto. They don’t look places of worship, but they are.
One worship center in Orange County is a mosque on Friday (different meetings times for Sunni and Shi’a), a synagogue on Saturday and a variety of churches on Sunday. It was a zoning building code thing. In fact, one neighborhood has it written in their ordinance that no Bible studies are allowed in private homes…not a religious issue, but a parking issue.
Maybe it is only the minority mentality of Christians in Jordan, but putting forth a big visible face is important. We have argued with our church leaders that a building should only be as big or as ornate as the local community can afford to build from it’s own resources (while still helping the poor). But oh no, they want to play the ‘poor persecuted Christian in Muslim country’ card to raise money for a big fancy structure and the pastor can have a mahogany desk for show. Sorry, whining again. It is rather a pet-peeve, as you can imagine, and perhaps I have mirrored it to minority Muslims abroad. We’ll see.
All that said, obviously this isn’t’ just about buildings. It is about growing fear that the worst of Islam will override the best of Islam and aspects of Swiss-ness. In some ways, it is a legitimate fear, and one that should not have to be dealt with from without (gov intervention), but from changes within and visible, public displays of what the best of Islam is.
MOEY! Hey guy. I did read your post, but was waiting to comment because I can be such an irritant, you know? thanks for the heads up for my readers
December 3, 2009 at 12:23 pm |